iber  i 8 


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REPRINT  AND  CIRCULAR  SERIES 

OF  THE 

NATIONAL  RESEARCH 
COUNCIL 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH 

BY  CHARLES  L.  REESE 
Chemical  Director,  E.  I.  du  Pont  de  Nemours  &  Company 

A.  J.  WADHAMS 
General  Superintendent,  International  Nickel  Company 


Papers  delivered  before  the  Division  of  Engineering  of  the 

National  Research  Council 

February  4,  1921 


Announcement  Concerning  Publications 

of  the 

National  Research  Council 

The  Proceedings  of  the  National  Academy  of  Sciences 

has  been  designated  as  the  official  organ  of  the  National  Research 
Council  for  the  publication  of  accounts  of  research,  committee  and 
other  reports,  and  minutes. 

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address:  Home  Secretary,  National  Academy  of  Sciences,  Smith- 
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The  "Bulletin"  is  published  at  irregular  intervals.  The  subscrip- 
tion price,  postpaid,  is  $5  per  volume  of  approximately  500  pages. 
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renders  available  for  purchase,  at  prices  dependent  upon  the  cost 
of  manufacture,  papers  published  or  printed  by  or  for  the  National 
Research  Council  (for  list  of  reprints  and  circulars  see  fourth  cover 
page). 

Orders  for  the  "Bulletin"  or  the  "Reprints  and  Circulars"  of  the 
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addressed:  Publication  Office,  National  Research  Council,  1701 
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REPRINT  AND  CIRCULAR  SERIES 

OF  THE 

NATIONAL  RESEARCH  COUNCIL 

NUMBER  18 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH* 

BY  CHARLES  L.  REESE 
Chemical  Director,  E.  I.  du  Pont  de  Nemours  &  Company 

A.  J.  WADHAMS 
General  Superintendent,  International  Nickel  Company 


CONTENTS 

Introduction 1 

Benefits  of  research  to  corporations 3 

Research  work  from  the  operating  man's  point  of  view 12 

INTRODUCTION 

Industries  are  dependent  upon  scientific  research  for  their  existence 
and  progress.  Stimulation  of  the  industries  to  conduct  research,  and 
the  education  of  their  managers  to  appreciation  of  the  necessity  for 
research,  are  among  the  activities  of  the  Division  of  Engineering  of  the 
National  Research  Council.  To  this  end,  at  meetings  of  the  Divi- 
sion distinguished  speakers  from  the  industries  tell  from  their  experi- 
ences, of  the  benefits  derived  from  research,  both  the  fundamental 
investigations  in  science  and  the  experiments  to  solve  industrial  prob- 
lems in  the  plant.  Executives  of  corporations  who  might  be  interested 
to  undertake  research  are  invited  as  guests. 

The  principal  speakers  at  the  meeting  of  the  Division  of  Engineering, 
February  4,  1921,  were  Dr.  Charles  L.  Reese,  Chemical  Director  of 

*  Papers  delivered  before  the  Division  of  Engineering  of  the  National  Research  Council, 
February  4,  1921. 


2  INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS 

E.  I.  du  Pont  de  Nemours  Company,  and  Mr.  A.  J.  Wadhams, 
General  Superintendent  of  the  International  Nickel  Company,  Orford 
Works,  Bayonne,  N.  J. 

National  Research  Council  is  a  cooperative  organization  of  scien- 
tific men  of  America.  Its  members  include,  however,  not  only  scientific 
and  technical  men,  but  also  business  men  interested  in  science,  engineer- 
ing and  industry.  Established  under  the  auspices  of  the  National 
Academy  of  Sciences,  with  the  cooperation  of  Engineering  Foundation, 
it  enjoys  the  support  of  most  of  the  major  scientific  and  technical 
societies,  and  governmental  departments.  Its  membership  is  drawn 
from  forty  of  these  societies  and  the  departments.  The  Council  was 
organized  in  1916  to  coordinate  the  research  facilities  of  the  country 
for  work  on  war  problems.  In  1918,  by  executive  order  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  it  was  reorganized  as  a  permanent  body,  for  the 
promotion  of  scientific  research  and  of  the  application  and  dissemina- 
tion of  scientific  knowledge  for  the  benefit  of  the  national  strength  and 
well-being. 

The  Council  has  thirteen  divisions,  arranged  in  two  groups.  One 
group  comprises  seven  divisions  of  science  and  technology,  represent- 
ing physics,  mathematics,  and  astronomy;  chemistry  and  chemical 
technology;  biology  and  agriculture;  the  medical  sciences;  psychology 
and  anthropology;  geology  and  geography;  and  engineering.  The 
other  group  comprises  six  divisions  of  general  relations,  namely, 
foreign  relations,  government  relations,  states  relations,  educational 
relations,  research  extension  and  research  information. 

The  Division  of  Engineering  of  the  National  Research  Council, 
working  in  cooperation  with  Engineering  Foundation,  aims  to  carry  out 
the  general  purpose  of  the  Council  in  the  field  of  engineering  by  stimu- 
lating research  and  coordinating  the  work  of  existing  agencies.  It 
seeks  to  minimize  duplication,  concentrate  effort,  and  stimulate  prog- 
ress, but  not  in  any  case  to  dictate  the  procedure  in  its  cooperative 
programs.  It  also  encourages  individual  initiative. 

The  Division  is  made  up  largely  of  representatives  appointed  by 
engineering  societies,  and  members  at  large  selected  because  of  special 
fitness.  The  membership  includes  fifteen  past-presidents  of  engineering 
societies,  high  officials  of  governmental  departments,  and  leaders  in 
industry. 

Division  of  Engineering 

National  Research  Council 
April  7,  1921. 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS  3 

BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH  TO  CORPORATIONS 
BY  CHARLES  L.  REESE 

It  is  quite  embarrassing  for  me,  a  chemist,  to  speak  before  an  audience 
of  engineers  on  the  subject  of  the  benefits  derived  by  the  du  Pont 
.Company  from  its  research  investigations  and  engineering  develop- 
ments, for,  although  I  am  familiar  in  many  ways  with  the  engineering 
developments,  my  experience  has  been  mostly  along  the  lines  of 
chemical  research  and  chemical  engineering. 

About  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  I  first  went  into  industrial  re- 
search work,  there  were  very  few  industries  in  this  country  that  recog- 
nized the  importance  of  organized  research  and  organized  chemical 
control,  and  any  work  of  this  character  done  at  all  was  handled  by 
operative  superintendents  or  managers  of  plants,  through  the  ordinary 
works  control  laboratories  and  their  operative  mechanical  engineers. 

My  first  experience  was  with  a  company  very  large  and  strong  for 
those  days,  that  had  a  patented  process  before  it  for  several  years. 
The  analyst,  who  had  hundreds  of  routing  analyses  to  make  every 
day,  was  given  the  process  to  report  upon.  When  I  took  over  his 
notes,  they  were  scattered  throughout  his  regular  note-book,  and  I 
could  make  no  use  of  them  whatsoever;  but  after  two  weeks  of  con- 
centrated study  I  had  worked  out  the  process  in  detail  and  made  a 
complete  report  in  which  I  turned  it  down,  much  to  the  satisfaction  of 
the  officers  of  the  company,  who  were  especially  relieved  to  be  rid  of 
the  importunities  of  the  inventor.  This  concern  now  has  a  very  large, 
well-organized  and  successful  research  department. 

In  the  study  of  industrial  problems  it  is  very  difficult  to  separate 
true  research  from  efficiency  control,  and  from  a  chemical  point  of 
view,  I  might  say  chemical  control  of  processes.  As  these  two  functions 
are  so  closely  related  and  under  one  head  in  the  organization  of  the  du 
Pont  Company,  it  will  be  necessary  to  include  both  in  trying  to  present 
some  of  the  benefits  derived  from  the  Research  Department  of  the 
company. 

When  I  first  organized  this  department  of  the  company's  work  in 
1902,  one  of  my  first  duties  was  to  establish  the  research  laboratory,, 
and  at  the  same  time  study  the  various  manufacturing  operations  as 
they  then  existed.  A  thorough  system  of  records  was  developed  with 
a  view  to  determining  yields  on  raw  materials,  costs,  etc.,  from  a 
material  point  of  view.  Consequently,  a  very  complete  system  of 


4  INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS 

records  has  been  developed,  so  that  at  any  time  the  du  Pont  Company 
can  place  its  hands  upon  the  records  of  efficiency  of  its  operations  during 
any  period  for  the  last  twenty  years.  From  a  study  of  these  records 
it  soon  developed  what  researches  were  necessary  in  order  to  improve 
going  processes,  and  it  was  not  long  before  great  improvements  were 
made  in  the  old  processes,  and  new  ones  developed  for  manufacturing 
old  products. 

In  1902  one  of  the  serious  difficulties  met  in  the  manufacture  of  nitro- 
glycerine was  the  long  time  required  to  separate  the  nitro-glycerine 
from  the  waste  acids,  especially  with  certain  brands  of  glycerine,  which 
were  purchased  under  contract.  This  resulted  in  reducing  production, 
and  seriously  increased  the  cost  of  manufacture.  During  the  first  year 
of  the  operation  of  the  research  laboratory  the  cause  of  this  difficulty 
was  discovered,  and  a  remedy  found  which,  capitalized,  was  worth  at 
least  a  million  dollars  to  the  company  as  well  as  materially  increasing 
the  safety  of  the  operation.  The  result  of  this  one  piece  of  research 
work  was  sufficient  to  carry  the  cost  of  the  laboratory  for  a  number  of 
years. 

During  these  early  days  most  of  the  work  of  the  research  department 
was  confined  to  subjects  connected  with  the  manufacture  of  high 
explosives  and  the  raw  materials  entering  into  their  manufacture. 
Soon  after  this  a  small  experimental  nitro-glycerine  factory  was  con- 
structed, and  through  a  scientific  study  of  this  manufacture  the  yields 
have  been  brought  up  practically  to  theoretical  standards,  and  the 
most  economic  ratios  of  raw  materials  have  been  used,  resulting  in 
enormous  savings  when  applied  to  the  great  production  of  this  material 
over  a  long  period  of  years. 

One  of  the  greatest  benefits  from  maintaining  a  research  organization 
in  any  industry,  and  particularly  in  the  chemical  industry,  is  the  fact 
that  it  will  enable  the  manufacturer  to  keep  ahead  of  the  art,  and  thus 
be  in  a  strong  position  to  meet  competition,  both  in  quality  and  the 
cost  of  the  product. 

It  is  also  of  great  advantage  to  the  people  and  to  the  country  at  large, 
in  that  it  ultimately  reduces  the  selling  prices  of  old  products  and  gives 
them  the  benefit  of  new  and  useful  ones,  of ttimes  adding  to  their  com- 
fort, happiness  and  safety,  as  well  as  to  their  self-defense.  As  an  illus- 
tration of  the  above,  I  might  mention  the  rapid  development  of  new 
types  of  explosives,  known  as  "Safety  Explosives,"  for  use  in  coal 
mines  to  prevent  frequent  explosions  of  gas  and  dust  due  to  the  use 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS  5 

of  black  powder.  Although  the  Bureau  of  Mines  has  done  much  to 
standardize  such  explosives  for  the  benefit  of  mankind,  it  may  be 
interesting  to  you  to  know  that  the  du  Pont  Company  was  the  first 
to  install  the  necessary  equipment  for  testing  such  explosives  in  this 
country,  and  has  developed  certain  explosives  of  this  class  which  were 
on  the  market  before  the  Bureau  of  Mines  was  established.  We  con- 
sequently have  been  a  leader  in  this  development,  and  have  given  the 
government  the  benefit  of  our  advance  knowledge. 

Another  benefit  has  been  the  development  of  certain  explosives 
which  would  not  freeze.  One  of  the  most  serious  dangers  to  the  users 
of  dynamite  were  the  accidents  brought  about  by  carelessness  in  thaw- 
ing frozen  dynamite  before  use  in  the  winter.  In  addition  to  doing 
away  with  this  danger,  the  expense  of  storing  in  heated  magazines  was 
also  eliminated. 

Two  types  of  low-freezing  dynamites  have  been  developed  in  this 
country.  In  one  the  freezing  point  of  the  nitro-glycerine  is  very  much 
retarded  by  the  use  of  nitro  bodies  dissolved  in  the  nitro-glycerine, 
whereas  in  the  other  the  freezing  point  of  the  nitro-glycerine  is  materi- 
ally retarded  by  the  polymerization  of  the  glycerine.  Although  these 
two  methods  had  been  known  in  Europe  for  a  number  of  years,  they 
had  never  been  put  into  practical  operation,  as  far  as  I  know,  and  it 
took  several  years,  after  the  discovery  of  the  methods,  to  make  them 
practical  in  this  country.  I  might  say  that  many  difficulties  were  met 
in  the  perfecting  of  this  class  of  explosives. 

The  monetary  value  of  discoveries  of  this  nature  cannot  be  calculated, 
nor  can  that  of  many  of  the  other  more  important  benefits  derived  from 
research  work. 

I  might  mention  an  interesting  case  of  purely  mechanical  nature, 
the  development  of  a  machine  for  packing  dynamite  into  the  paper 
shells,  which  not  only  brought  about  a  very  large  monetary  saving, 
but  also  reduced  to  a  minimum  the  danger  connected  with  this  opera- 
tion. It  does  the  work  of  thirty  or  forty  operatives  in  plants  I  have 
seen  in  Europe,  and  although  such  machines  have  been  in  use  for 
twenty  odd  years,  I  know  of  only  one  explosion  having  occurred,  in 
which  only_two  operatives  were  involved. 

Another  very  important  mechanical  accomplishment,  and  one  which 
was  largely  responsible  for  our  ability  to  manufacture  the  enormous 
amount  of  smokeless  powder  for  the  United  States  and  the  Allies,  is 
our  Mechanical  Cotton  Dipper.  In  the  old  days  about  two  pounds  of 


6  INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS 

raw  cotton  were  put  in  an  earthenware  pot,  and  nitrated  by  a  man  stir- 
ring nitric  acid  through  it  with  a  fork,  and  when  this  charge  was 
completed,  we  had  about  three  pounds  of  finished  product,  or  nitro- 
cellulose. One  pot  could  not  be  used  more  than  twice  a  day,  and  to 
produce  the  amount  of  nitro-cellulose  required  it  would  have  neces- 
sitated the  actual  daily  use  of  about  500,000  pots,  a  place  large  enough 
to  operate  them,  and  thousands  of  men.  It  is  obvious  that  this  would 
have  been  impossible.  By  the  use  of  the  Mechanical  Dipper,  all  these 
pots  were  discarded,  and  the  amount  of  the  charges  considerably 
increased.  As  it  required  only  about  150  men  and  very  little  space  to 
operate  these  machines,  we  were  able,  with  other  improvements,  to 
manufacture  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  pounds  of  nitro-cellulose  per 
day  at  one  of  our  plants. 

In  the  manufacture  of  nitro-cellulose  many  so-called  fires  occur, 
which  more  properly  should  be  called  "fume-offs."  When  these  occur, 
it  is  necessary  for  the  workmen  to  leave  the  building,  and  remain  idle 
until  it  has  been  cleared  of  these  fumes.  Ordinary  means  of  ventilation 
do  not  suffice,  and  therefore  an  aeroplane  propeller  was  installed, 
which  nearly  instantly  drives  out  these  fumes,  so  that  very  little  time 
is  lost.  I  mention  this  because  it  has  resulted  in  more  regular  operation 
of  the  plant,  and  also  illustrates  a  valuable  use  which  can  be  made  of 
machinery  designed  for  an  entirely  different  purpose. 

Several  years  ago  one  of  the  principal  men  at  one  of  our  research 
laboratories  made  the  suggestion  that  a  certain  cheap  raw  material 
might  be  used  in  connection  with  glycerine  for  the  manufacture  of  a 
liquid  explosive.  Although  it  took  a  number  of  years  to  perfect  the 
invention  and  make  it  practical,  by  the  partial  substitution  of  this 
material,  there  resulted  a  net  saving  of  practically  one  million  dollars 
to  the  company  in  five  years;  the  saving  was  realized  principally  in 
the  last  two  or  three  of  these  five  years.  It  is  customary  for  the  com- 
pany to  encourage  its  employees  to  make  discoveries  of  this  kind  by 
awarding  them  bonus  stock.  It  may  be  interesting  to  you  to  know 
that  the  research  chemist  who  made  this  discovery  received  a  bonus  of 
common  stock  of  the  company  that  made  him  financially  independent, 
and  there  have  been  many  cases  somewhat  similar  to  this  one. 

Dr.  Otto  Witt,  a  celebrated  chemical  engineer,  in  an  address  before 
the  International  Congress  of  Applied  Chemistry  in  London  in  1909, 
spoke  of  the  difficulties  usually  met  in  taking  an  industry  or  process 
from  one  country  to  another,  using  as  an  illustration  the  manufacture 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS  7 

of  illuminating  gas,  which  was  taken  from  England,  where  it  was  devel- 
oped, to  France  and  Germany.  My  experience  confirms  this  state- 
ment. In  1901,  the  contact  process  for  the  manufacture  of  sulphuric 
acid  was  brought  here  from  Germany,  but  it  took  two  years  or  more  of 
scientific  study  and  much  sad  experience,  both  on  the  part  of  the 
chemist  and  the  engineer,  to  bring  it  to  a  satisfactory  basis  for  the 
conditions  in  this  country,  although  we  had  the  benefit  of  the  inventor's 
experience  and  guidance. 

In  1908,  after  a  visit  to  England  and  Germany,  I  became  convinced 
that  trinitrotoluol  was  the  coming  military  high  explosive.  We 
secured  all  the  available  information  from  the  other  side,  and  made  a 
thorough  study  of  the  process  from  a  scientific  point  of  view.  After 
we  had  operated  a  small  experimental  plant  and  secured  a  contract 
from  the  government  for  the  use  of  the  explosive  in  submarine  mines, 
we  undertook  its  manufacture.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  manu- 
facture of  trinitrotoluol,  or  "T-N-T,"  in  this  country,  and  the  wisdom 
of  the  venture  was  shown  by  the  enormous  tonnage  of  this  explosive 
which,  made  in  this  country  during  the  war,  helped  to  win  it.  This, 
in  connection  with  other  work  carried  out  in  another  laboratory 
organized  for  general  research  and  particularly  for  the  study  of  smoke- 
less powder  subjects,  together  with  the  well-organized  research  depart- 
ment, was  a  great  factor  in  enabling  the  du  Pont  Company  to  meet  the 
situation  when  the  World  War  broke  out.  Much  fundamental  research 
work  on  smokeless  powder  was  done  at  this  laboratory,  which  seemed, 
at  the  time,  to  lead  to  no  results,  but  I  am  going  to  call  your  attention 
to  one  or  two  facts  which  turned  out  to  be  of  the  greatest  importance 
when  the  great  war  came  on. 

A  new  military  rifle  powder  had  been  developed  at  the  laboratory, 
but  did  not  seem  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  American  military 
rifle.  Just  before  the  war  an  Argentine  Commission  was  seeking  a 
powder  which  would  be  suitable  for  use  in  their  rifle.  When  this  powder 
was  tried  in  our  laboratory,  it  was  found  to"  suit  admirably,  and  conse- 
quently we  felt  that  our  efforts  in  this  direction  had  not  been  wasted. 
When  it  became  necessary  to  furnish  rifle  powder  for  the  Russian, 
British,  and  French  rifles,  this 'powder  proved  so  successful  that  nearly 
ninety  million  pounds  of  it  were  manufactured  for  these  countries. 
Although  it  is  impossible  to  figure  the  monetary  value  of  this  develop- 
ment, as  some  other  powder  would  undoubtedly  have  been  used,  if 
we  take  a  fair  royalty  as  a  basis  for  figuring,  it  would  represent  a  very 
large  sum  of  money. 


8  INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS 

When  we  began  to  receive  orders  for  large  amounts  of  smokeless 
powder  from  the  Allies,  it  became  necessary  to  make  for  ourselves  one 
of  the  most  important  ingredients  for  its  manufacture — diphenylamine 
—which  had  previously  been  obtained  from  Europe.  Chemists  were 
immediately  put  to  work,  and  a  process  developed  which  enabled  us 
to  supply  all  the  diphenylamine  necessary,  and  not  a  day's  production 
of  smokeless  powder  was  delayed  owing  to  the  lack  of  this  material. 
The  first  process  was  expensive,  and  consequently  a  better  one  was 
developed,  which  saved  in  the  neighborhood  of  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars  to  the  company. 

Before  the  war  all  smokeless  powder  manufactured  for  the  govern- 
ment was  air  dried  in  order  to  remove  the  excess  solvent,  and  it  required 
several  months  to  finish  the  powder.  A  very  exhaustive  study  had 
been  made  of  a  process  for  water  drying  used  by  the  French.  There 
was  considerable  doubt  on  the  part  of  military  experts  in  this  country 
as  to  the  advisability  of  water  drying,  but  this  piece  of  work  proved  the 
feasibility  of  the  process  without  a  doubt,  so  that  when  the  great 
demand  for  smokeless  powder  came  the  information  gained  was  immedi- 
ately useful,  and  powder  was  made  in  a  few  days  instead  of  in  a  few 
months. 

Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  toluol,  two  laboratories  were  put  on  the 
problem  of  finding  a  method  of  producing  more  of  this  material,  and  as 
a  result  two  separate  and  distinct  processes  were  developed  and  put 
into  operation. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  it  was  absolutely  impossible  to  secure  lead 
burners  to  build  our  sulphuric  acid  plant  at  Hopewell,  Virginia,  and 
consequently  the  entire  plant  was  built  without  the  use  of  lead.  This 
plant  produced  over  one  and  a  quarter  million  tons  of  sulphuric  acid. 
This,  I  believe,  is  the  first  time  a  sulphuric  acid  plant  has  been  built 
without  the  use  of  lead.  As  a  result,  a  plant  of  25,000  tons  annual 
capacity  was  built  in  two  months,  with  an  additional  unit,  up  to  ten 
units,  every  seven  days.  With  lead  burning  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  get  this  plant  ready  in  any  such  time. 

In  the  manufacture  of  over  a  billion  pounds  of  smokeless  powder, 
two  hundred  and  sixteen  million  gallons  of  alcohol  were  used.  Of  this, 
eighty-six  million  gallons  were  consumed  and  one  hundred  and  thirty 
million  gallons  were  recovered  by  a  process  which  had  been  developed 
before  the  war. 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS  9 

In  this  connection  I  should  like  to  quote  a  statement  made  by  Mr. 
Pierre  S.  du  Pont,  President  of  the  du  Pont  Company,  in  his  annual 
report  for  the  year  1918: 

This  enormous  saving  is  largely  attributable  to  the  very  efficient  work 
of  the  Chemical  and  Mechanical  Research  Departments,  including  the 
laboratories  of  the  Company,  with  the  most  intimate  and  earnest  coopera- 
tion of  the  men  in  the  factories  themselves.  The  Chemical  and  Mechanical 
Research  Departments  numbered  212  men  prior  to  the  war,  while  at  the 
end  of  the  year  1918,  987  men  were  employed  in  this  service.  The  econo- 
mies effected  by  them  and  by  those  working  in  the  factories  have  not  been 
questions  of  dollars  and  cents  alone,  as  conservation  of  materials  saved 
was  of  prime  importance  to  the  world  at  large.  Thus  the  reduction  in 
consumption  of  alcohol  was  the  equivalent  to  the  saving  of  10,400,000 
bushels  of  corn.  The  total  expenditure  for  experiment  and  research 
during  the  four  years  1915-1918  amounts  to  $3,360,000. 

As  I  have  stated  above,  it  would  have  been  practically  impossible 
for  the  company  to  have  undertaken  the  manufacture  of  1,466,761,291 
pounds  of  military  explosives  had  it  not  been  for  its  chemical  and 
engineering  organizations.  We  manufactured  not  only  smokeless  pow- 
der, trinitrotoluol  and  picric  acid,  but  also  developed  and  manufactured 
tetryl  and  trinitroxylene,  two  explosives  which  had  not  been  manu- 
factured in  this  country  before  the  war,  as  well  as  numerous  explosive 
mixtures  to  help  out  the  shortage  in  these  materials. 

An  enormous  amount  of  work  was  found  necessary  in  order  to  develop 
satisfactory  methods  for  loading  that  very  successful  high  explosive 
developed  in  England,  known  as  amatol,  a  mixture  of  trinitrotoluol 
and  nitrate  of  ammonia.  The  trinitrotoluol  acts  as  a  cementing 
material  for  holding  the  grains  of  nitrate  of  ammonia  together,  and  also 
acts  as  a  sensitizing  material  to  bring  about  the  explosion  of  the 
nitrate  of  ammonia  as  well  as  the  trinitrotoluol  itself.  It  was  found 
necessary  to  load  this  material  while  it  was  hot  enough  to  maintain 
the  liquid  condition  of  the  trinitrotoluol,  for  as  soon  as  it  cools,  it 
solidifies,  and  the  material  forms  a  mass  similar  in  structure  to  sand- 
stone. This  proved  to  be  as  satisfactory  an  explosive  as  trinitrotoluol 
itself,  but  great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  properly  loading  into 
shells.  Proper  machinery  had  to  be  designed  to  meet  the  requirements, 
and  after  very  large  expenditure  of  time  and  money,  this  was  success- 
fully accomplished. 

Tetryl,  an  explosive  which  was  used  exclusively  in  Germany  before 
the  war,  is  intended  partially  to  replace  fulminate  of  mercury  in  det- 


10         INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS 

onating  or  blasting  caps.  During  the  war  it  was  used  to  a  very  large 
extent  as  a  primer,  in  addition  to  fulminate  of  mercury,  for  high 
explosive  shells,  and  there  was  a  great  demand  for  this  material.  In 
order  to  manufacture  tetryl,  the  chemical  name  for  which  is  tetra- 
nitro-dimethyl-aniline,  it  was  necessary  to  manufacture  dimethyl- 
aniline.  It  did  not  take  long  in  the  laboratory  to  develop  a  process  for 
the  manufacture  of  dimethyl-aniline,  and  this  material  has  been  manu- 
factured ever  since  in  sufficient  quantities  to  supply  all  the  tetryl  needed 
for  the  war,  and  also  the  amount  needed  as  an  intermediate  for  dyes. 
This  is  one  case  that  shows  the  very  intimate  relation  between  the  dyes 
and  munitions  industries,  about  which  so  much  has  been  said  in  the 
last  two  years  in  connection  with  legislation  necessary  to  protect  the 
infant  dye  industry. 

A  small  experimental  plant  was  quickly  built  for  the  manufacture  of 
tetryl,  and  from  this  a  large  one  was  designed  which  was  operated 
throughout  the  war  without  a  single  explosion.  I  mention  this  because 
tetryl  is  a  very  dangerous  material  to  manufacture,  and  although  we 
had  secured  some  information  in  regard  to  its  manufacture  from  Ger- 
many before  the  war,  it  was  found  that  some  of  this  information  was 
positively  misleading,  and  would  have  caused  serious  damage  had  we 
not  discovered  the  error  in  the  small  experimental  plant.  The  fact 
that  this  plant  was  operated  without  an  accident  is  extremely  interest- 
ing when  we  consider  the  fact  that  tetryl  is  a  much  more  sensitive 
explosive  than  trinitrotoluol,  or  the  so-called  "T-N-T."  There  have 
been  explosions  in  plants  manufacturing  this  material,  which  up  to  the 
time  of  the  war  was  considered  a  comparatively  safe  explosive. 

Because  of  the  success  of  our  chemists  in  meeting  the  requirements 
for  diphenylamine  and  toluene  by  synthetic  processes,  we  were  en- 
couraged to  believe  that  we  had  in  our  organization  men  who  could 
master,  through  '  research,  the  great  problem  of  producing  dyes  in 
this  country,  which  were  so  much  needed  when  the  supply  was 
cut  off  by  the  German  monopoly.  As  we  are  manufacturers  of  explo- 
sives which  require  the  same  raw  materials  and  similar  processes  to 
those  used  in  the  manufacture  of  dyes,  we  decided  to  branch  out  into 
the  dye  industry.  This  would  not  have  been  possible  without  the 
research  organization  which  had  been  developed  before  the  war,  and 
grown  so  tremendously  during  the  war.  The  fact  that  the  du  Pont 
Company  is  now  producing  a  large  line  of  satisfactory  colors  is  proof  of 
the  service  which  a  research  organization  can  be  to  a  manufacturing 
concern. 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS         11 

It  might  be  interesting  to  state  that  the  total  expenditure  of  the  du 
Pont  Research  Organization  for  the  years  1912  to  1918  inclusive  was 
$6,051,000,  and  the  calculable  saving,  disregarding  those  benefits 
which  cannot  be  figured  in  dollars  and  cents,  though  extremely  impor- 
tant, amounts  to  $82,401,000.  This  large  figure,  of  course,  is  increased 
very  much  by  the  enormous  production  during  the  war,  and  as  a  large 
part  of  this  saving  was  in  connection  with  the  manufacture  of  smoke- 
less powder,  it  enabled  the  company  to  reduce  the  price  of  powder 
materially  during  the  war,  in  spite  of  the  increased  cost  of  raw  materials 
and  labor. 

Since  1918  expenditures  on  research  have  increased.  This  is  largely 
due  to  the  great  number  of  different  industries  in  which  the  du  Pont 
Company  is  interested — explosives,  pyroxylin  plastics,  pyroxylin 
solutions,  artificial  leather,  paint,  pigment  and  varnish,  and  the  nitrate 
industry — to  say  nothing  of  the  highly  technical  and  very  complicated 
dye  industry,  which  is  still  in  its  infancy.  It  is  to  the  last  named 
industry  that  the  company  is  today  devoting  more  than  half  of  its 
research  efforts.  You  will  all  recognize  the  fact  that  the  dye  industry 
could  not  be  carried  on,  much  less  developed,  without  the  most  highly 
trained  research  organization.  The  progress  which  has  been  made 
up  to  the  present  is  nothing  short  of  marvelous,  but  there  is  still  a  great 
deal  to  be  done  to  put  this  great  American  industry  on  a  firm  footing. 
Many  millions  have  already  been  spent  and  many  more  will  have  to  be 
spent  on  research  to  enable  this  American  industry  to  meet  German 
competition  without  protection,  which  is  absolutely  essential  to  its 
existence  at  present.  It  would  take  a  miracle  for  our  chemists  in  a 
few  years  to  create  the  equivalent  in  details  of  what  fifty  years'  experi- 
ence has  given  the  Germans,  but  even  if  they  do,  more  will  have  to  be 
done  in  the  way  of  research  to  enable  the  industry  to  keep  ahead  of 
the  art. 


12          INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS 


RESEARCH  WORK  FROM  THE  OPERATING  MAN'S 
POINT  OF  VIEW 

BY  A.  J.  WADHAMS 

We  have  just  heard  Dr.  Reese's  interesting  comments  on  the  great 
service  rendered  by  the  du  Pont  Company  during  the  war.  Before 
starting  on  the  subject  of  "Research  Work  from  the  Operating  Man's 
Point  of  View,"  I  want  to  say  something  about  the  work  done  by  The 
International  Nickel  Company  during  the  war. 

It  is  probably  known  to  you  all  that  nickel-steel  is  used  very  exten- 
sively in  the  manufacture  of  armor  plate,  gun  forgings,  bayonets,  and 
other  military  equipment.  Substantially  all  of  the  nickel  for  these 
steels  required  by  the  allied  governments  was  supplied  by  The  Inter- 
national Nickel  Company.  It  meant  a  very  busy  time  for  us,  supplying 
not  only  the  nickel  for  ordnance  steel  but  also  large  amounts  for  auto- 
mobile construction,  for  shafting,  and  other  parts,  as  well  as  the  nickel 
used  in  copper-nickel  alloys  for  bullet  jackets,  and  for  other  purposes. 

It  was  not  until  this  pressure  was  removed  that  we  took  up  seriously 
the  question  of  research.  During  the  times  of  good  business,  when  there 
is  an  abnormal  demand  for  production,  questions  which  involve  serious 
study  do  not,  as  a  rule,  receive  much  attention,  as  there  is  no  urgent 
need  for  the  results  which  intensive  study  might  develop.  This  is  not 
particularly  any  more  true  of  The  International  Nickel  Company  than 
of  other  industries.  When  there  is  an  over  demand  for  tonnage  which 
can  be  made,  the  energy  and  resources  of  the  company  are  bent  upon 
supplying  that  demand,  with  very  little  interest  in  development  work. 

It  was,  therefore,  not  until  after  the  armistice  that  the  question 
of  developing  and  extending  research  work  was  brought  to  my  atten- 
tion. Since  that  time  we  have  organized,  and  thoroughly  equipped, 
a  research  department  which  has  in  hand  a  great  number  of  projects. 

For  the  purpose  of  discussion,  I  would  divide  research  into  two  main 
sub-divisions : 

First:  That  which  comes  from  outside  the  company  as  the  result  of 
the  use  of  the  company's  products,  and  under  this  heading,  suggestions 
for  new  uses. 

Second:  Study  of  practice  and  resultant  products  in  the  shop.  It 
is  this  second  field  of  which  I  wish  to  speak. 


INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS         13 

We  have  all  seen  the  research  engineer  attempting  to  gain  information 
from  the  operating  department.  His  usual  experience  is  to  find  hurdles 
placed  for  him  by  the  furnacemen  and  others,  over  which  he  must  go, 
willy  nilly.  If  he  clears  the  hurdle,  out  he  goes  through  the  opposite 
door.  If  he  fails,  so  much  the  better  from  the  standpoint  of  the  operat- 
ing man,  and  still  out  he  goes  through  the  opposite  door.  This  condi- 
tion does  not  produce  results  and  is  usually  the  cause  of  building  up 
between  the  technical  man  and  the  practical  man  solid  barriers  which 
are  hard  to  remove  later  on. 

In  operating,  the  goal  is  production.  That  must  be  kept  clearly  in 
mind  at  all  times  by  an  operating  man.  The  staff  is  organized  with  that 
purpose  clearly  in  view  and  kept  as  the  guiding  star.  This  being  the 
case,  we  must  have  double-fisted  men  as  foremen  and  department 
superintendents  in  industry:  men  who  can  handle  the  tools  themselves 
and  know,  by  first-hand  experience,  how  the  job  is  done;  men  who  have 
the  driving  force  to  put  the  plan  through  and  get  out  the  tonnage. 

In  order  to  have  the  research  department  men  enter  this  field  with 
any  hope  of  success,  they  must  realize  fully  that  the  operating  man, 
through  his  experience,-  has  a  knowledge  of  the  work  which  they  have 
not.  This  must  be  an  honest  belief  and  not  a  mere  say-so  from  the 
standpoint  of  expediency.  The  operating  man  is  immediately  conscious 
of  the  technique  in  the  possession  of  the  research  man,  which  is  some- 
what beyond  him.  The  chance  of  getting  into  the  department  without 
having  the  hurdles  placed  is  gained  by  showing  an  honest  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  the  operating  man's  knowledge.  The  accomplishment 
of  this  depends  largely  upon  personalities.  There  is  no  simple  formula 
by  which  it  can  be  done. 

The  advance  must  be  made  by  the  technical  man;  the  operating 
man  will,  in  my  opinion,  seldom  if  ever  make  the  advance.  The 
easiest  avenue  of  approach  is,  I  believe,  one  of  information,  offered 
by  the  technical  man  to  the  operating  man,  not  in  a  spirit  of  superiority, 
but  in  a  spirit  of  exchange  for  real  values  received  from  the  operating  man. 

You  remember  the  poster  during  the  war,  showing  a  man  producing 
the  machine  gun,  and  above  him,  in  a  vision,  the  man  using  the  machine 
gun.  The  impetus  given  to  the  man  by  this  sort  of  picture  was  a  great 
stimulus  to  production  in  a  great  many  industries.  Particularly  is  this 
true  of  multiple  machine  jobs;  the  individuals  have  little  or  no  knowl- 
edge of  the  product  before  it  comes  to  them,  nor  what  their  effort  has 
added  to  its  value. 


14         INDUSTRIAL  BENEFITS  OF  RESEARCH:  REESE  AND  WADHAMS 

The  idea  is  to  interest  the  operating  man  by  showing  a  picture  of  the 
processes  through  which  the  material  has  passed  before  it  comes  to  his. 
department  and  how,  through  his  effort,  it  is  enabled  to  be  passed  on  to 
the  next  step.  Show  him  how  the  process  works.  Get  him  interested 
in  the  reactions  which  actually  occur  in  his  own  work;  in  other  words,, 
let  in  the  light;  take  off  the  roof  and  knock  down  one  side  of  the  building 
of  the  man's  mind,  so  that  he  sees  the  thing  in  a  way  in  which  he  has. 
never  seen  it  before. 

This  is  the  opportunity  the  research  man  has  in  dealing  with  the 
operating  man.  If  he  can  use  it,  there  is  scarcely  a  limit  to  what  may 
be  achieved.  Under  these  conditions  there  will  be  no  hurdles  for  the 
technical  man  while  he  is  in  the  operating  department,  and  his  field  of 
vision,  in  turn,  will  be  so  enlarged  that  his  usefulness  will  be  greatly 
enhanced. 

It  is  usually  a  question  of  educating  the  man  up  to  his  job  and  letting; 
in  the  light. 

There  is  another  group  which  you  might  say  is  in  need  of  being 
educated  down  to  this  problem;  that  is,  the  boards  of  directors.  It  is. 
often  difficult  to  capitalize  results  of  research.  .  Improvements  in  the 
shop  practice  often  have  far  reaching  results  yet  cannot  be  evaluated 
in  dollars  and  cents.  In  a  major  improvement  it  is  sometimes  difficult 
to  determine  fairly  what  part  of  it  should  be  credited  to  research;  other 
factors  may  have  played  an  important  part.  More  interest  on  the  part 
of  boards  of  directors  in  the  visions  of  the  research  department  is. 
necessary  to  stimulate  the  work. 

In  my  opinion  close  cooperation  between  the  research  department 
and  the  operating  departments  opens  up  possibilities  for  intelligent 
advancement  which  will  be  productive  of  great  results. 


Ill  1111  Hill  ll'l'  I"11  IIBBI  "••'  '• 

A    001  218906    4 

^MMBBHH 
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